By Suzana What Is High Cholesterol – Dissecting The Importance Of Avoiding It To Help Keep You Safe
With the number of people who are now more conscious about their health, it is only to be expected that they would want to go with the norm and look for ways they can lower their high cholesterol. But for those who truly succeed at this, finding out what is high cholesterol is an important first step.
Before anything, it is important to first identify what cholesterol is. It is a waxy and fat like substance that can be found in every cell in the body. In order to function properly, the body needs cholesterol.
This is why the body supplies its own cholesterol. It is needed in order to produce vitamin D, hormones and substances for digesting food. But aside from being supplied by the body, cholesterol can also be found in a number of foods.
The reason why high cholesterol is not good for the body is because it is fat. Since blood is watery, the two cannot mix. When travelling through the bloodstream, cholesterol is being carried by small packages, which are called lipoproteins.
These too, are made of lipid (fat) inside and on the outside, proteins. There are two types of lipoproteins-LDL and HDL. Since both are needed by the body, a healthy level of both is important.
The people who ask what is high cholesterol are able to understand what the purpose of the two types of cholesterol is. Since LDL is known as the bad cholesterol, it is important to keep it at a minimum level. Otherwise, the risk for stroke and heart disease is high.
On the other hand, the HDL (good cholesterol) level needs to be high so that heart disease can be prevented.
So what is high cholesterol?
It is when there is too much LDL cholesterol in the blood. This serious scenario can increase the risk for a heart disease. On its own, high blood cholesterol does not have any symptoms. This is why there are lots of people who are unaware of their current cholesterol level, unless they have their blood pressure checked.
The reason why too much cholesterol is bad is because it builds up in the artery walls. These are the blood vessels that transport blood from the heart to the other body parts. This build up can cause plaque, which will then narrow the passage to the arteries. As a result, blood cannot be transported properly.
By knowing what is high cholesterol, people get to understand the dangers of it. They are able to see why they need to cut down on their daily cholesterol intake so they can be in control of their health. The risks associated with high cholesterol are simply too high to neglect.